Even from a European aspect, the Government has achieved outstanding results in the field of employment in general and women’s labour prospects in particular, Ministerial Commissioner Piroska Szalai, responsible for the improvement of women’s labour market prospects, said in Győr, at a conference organized within the framework of the Fidesz programme entitled Hungary is Doing Better.

She called it an excellent result that the number of women in employment increased last year by 42 thousand, and thus their employment rate edged up to 52 percent. “In case we can deliver the same figures each year, we are on target,” she said.

The Ministerial Commissioner emphasized that women’s labour market statistics in Hungary shall be evaluated in comparison to other EU countries instead of data on men. As she said, after the women’s employment indicator reached its low point with 45 percent in 1997, the trend was turning positive concurrently with EU figures, and thus Hungary’s employment gap of 4-5 percent was steady for a couple of years. After that, however, the data deteriorated and by 2008 the rift widened to more than 8 percent; consequently, Bulgaria, Poland and Spain beat Hungary and only Greece, Italy and Malta recorded worse data than Hungary.

Piroska Szalai stressed that in light of surveys modern women are reluctant to choose between family and work, and the Government’s objective is to provide the largest possible number of opportunities for those who are keen to return to work, and also for those who want to stay at home with their children for as long as possible.

Speaking about the advantages of flexible, alternative employment forms – such as part-time jobs – the Ministerial Commissioner pointed out that returning to the labour market has always been more difficult than staying on it, even if with disruptions.

Fidesz MP Ákos Kara, Vice President of the Parliament’s Employment Commission, stressed at the event that the Government, which in 2010 formulated as its goal to give work and provide direct subsidies for finding or keeping jobs to as many people as possible, has been on the right track.

(Ministry for National Economy)